Medieval Masculinities

Transgressions and Transformations

Tania Colwell

Abstract

Middle English romances are often understood and examined in terms of their presentation of knightly heroes or beautiful heroines who conform to medieval ideals of gendered behaviour. In contrast, this essay considers atypical male bodies presented in three late medieval texts with a view to exploring the ways in which such figures, however misshapen or disfigured, simultaneously represented a challenge to, and yet perpetuated, an idealised chivalric, masculine code of behaviour. With an understanding of the body as a metaphor for society and gender as the enactment of patterns of behaviour, this paper suggests that although male bodies which transgress accepted norms of idealised behaviour are represented as a threat to social stability, these bodies are usually manipulated in such a way as both to restore social order and reaffirm traditional models of masculine behaviour.

Web Links

J.J. Cohen and the Members of Interscripta, 'Medieval Masculinities: Heroism, Sanctity and Gender'

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